Google 1Gbps Fiber Network Trial to Start Later This Year [Google’s Initial Gigabit Fiber Internet Test to Target 50,000 to 500,000 People]

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After launching Google Buzz yesterday, which happens to be Google’s official social networking app, the Mountain View-based company made another interesting announcement today. This time the company was talking about something entirely different but equally interesting, its upcoming gigabit fiber network.

Google will start testing gigabit fiber Internet in various locations around the U.S. targeting anywhere between 50,000 to 500,000 customers. Google is “thinking big with a gig” as it envisions a world in which universal ultra high-speed Internet access will become more and more available to regular users.

The company will deploy broadband networks in its attempt to offer its American consumers Internet speeds of up to 1Gbps per second or about 100 times faster than current average speeds.

It’s definitely a bold project and if anyone has the means to do it that’s definitely a giant like Google. Going to the conspiracy theory side of the matter for a moment we’ll notice how Google will not only control the Internet from inside by providing lots of different services to every day Internet consumers but by also building its own infrastructure of fiber-to-the-home connections that will actually be used to deliver the Internet to your door.

So what besides the undisputed download and upload speeds bump you’ll also get the following features once a gigabit fiber network powered by Google will be in place:

Next generation apps: We want to see what developers and users can do with ultra high-speeds, whether it’s creating new bandwidth-intensive “killer apps” and services, or other uses we can’t yet imagine.

New deployment techniques: We’ll test new ways to build fiber networks, and to help inform and support deployments elsewhere, we’ll share key lessons learned with the world.

Openness and choice: We’ll operate an “open access” network, giving users the choice of multiple service providers. And consistent with our past advocacy, we’ll manage our network in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent way.

Anyone excited?